Ho ho ho!

Yesterday was a big day for us. We kicked off the holiday season with a bang by going to the mall to visit Santa and take a ride (or four) on the Polar Bear Express. Before I go further, let me mention that this was Eva’s first trip into real public wearing undies since she’s been potty trained. She has gotten out of the house a lot but just to school, church and friend’s/family’s homes. It was the first time in a store or mall or anything like that. So, it could have been a disaster. But of course, it was not. She did great on the 45 minute drive there. Told me she had to go potty when we got there so we raced into Old Navy and she went. Of course she went a few more times while we were there … I’m pretty sure the novelty of going into the bathroom was a big part of it because she never has to pee that often, but hey. Along with that, she behaved so well which sometimes isn’t always the case when you try to contain a toddler in a stroller in the mall. She sat nicely for dinner and listened to me and the bestie’s the whole time. What a sweet girl. On the way home, I told her how proud I was that she was such a good girl and listened and obeyed the whole time we were out. She said… “And Cindy, too. I proud of Cindy. She a good girl, too”. Well, props to Cindy.

Now onto the good stuff. We had heard that the mall had a pretty sweet Santa display so we decided to hit the town and take the kids. The day before, I started prepping Evalyn because I had a feeling she might not be too pumped with the Big Guy once we got there. When I showed her the picture of her sitting on Santa’s lap last year, she looked at me like I must be crazy. Like, “waitaminute … you’re going to make me sit there with that big creepy guy"? But, despite that, she seemed excited. She asked over and over again when we were going to see Santa. When she got up yesterday she was a bit confused and asked “Can we go see Jesus now?” Erm, gotta get this straight, I guess. I took her to preschool in the morning and she excitedly told her teacher that she would be going to see Santa after nap.

When we got home, I’ve never seen her eat lunch that fast and be that eager to go to sleep. On the drive to the mall she asked me if we were at Santa’s house yet about 483902483 times. Asked if he would be on a big chair. If he’d have a beard. If she could say “Merry Christmas” to him. Once we got there, she was excited but waited pretty patiently while I went to a store to do a return. We met up with the girls and the babes and headed to Santa. I was still pretty confident that she might totally back out as soon as she saw him.

When we got there, there was no line up but one child already speaking with Santa, so we were up next. That’s when the positive self talk started. She was like, “I want to see Santa. I don’t want to see Santa. I don’t want to sit with him. Is it my turn now? I don’t want to see him. Can I go say hi now?” When it was our turn, I was holding Gwen so I took her hand and started to walk toward him. Then she started back pedaling. She put the breaks on. I told her that she didn’t have to sit on his lap, just say hi. So Gwennie sat on his lap and Eva hesitantly got up beside him on the bench.

She was just so cute. She was obviously nervous and hesitant of him but wanted so badly to enjoy it and have fun. At one point, she even said, “Dis is fun. Sitting wis Santa is fun” with a shaky, kind of whimpery voice. Despite her reservations she was so polite to Santa. Wished him a Merry Christmas and thanked him for the candy cane and coloring book.

As soon as she was done with Santa, she wasted no time in getting in line for the train ride. She had fun yelling “ALL ABOARD” and looking at all the directions around the track. Mr. Conductor made the ride even better with his excitement and animation. And of course, the girls and I kept ourselves totally reserved and quiet. Pause, not. It was like housewives gone wild. We were hooping and hollering like we were on the biggest roller coaster of our lives. We’ve already made plans to go back next week. Without the kids. Okay, maybe not. But, seriously … we are taking the kids back at least once more before Christmas and are intending to wear that train ride out! We may even make it a goal to get banned.

 

After Santa, we went to grab some dinner. Hello, Poutine! Best friends, Santa, train rides and poutine all in one afternoon? I can hardly handle it! During dinner, Evalyn kept asking over and over again if we could see Santa again.

So, duh. We did. And this time, we managed to snag this beauty …Imagine a world where you get a picture of Santa with three moms and four kids and everyone is looking at the camera! My pictures aren’t the greatest because I only had my phone. I figured we wouldn’t be allowed to take our own photos so I didn’t even bother with my camera. I will know better for next time. They let us take as many as we wanted and we didn’t have to pay for their over priced lame photos.

Before heading home we may or may not have taken another spin around the train. Can you blame us? I mean, really.

If this wasn’t enough to get me in the holiday spirit, we have been wearing Christmas PJs, watching Christmas shows, reading Christmas books, playing with Christmas toys and wrapping Christmas presents like crazy around here. We don’t have our tree or decorations up (this weekend, folks) but we are in the spirit around here, nonetheless. I am so excited for this year – Gwen’s first Christmas, our first Christmas in our new home and the first year that Evalyn is showing some major excitement and understanding about the holiday season.

It’s going to be a fun, fun month.